Monday, October 8, 2007
No mail today...
Thanksgiving....You go to the mailbox twice checking for your goodies...scratching your head on the way back..."hmmm....I know we just had Labor Day in Sept...Halloween is at the end of the month but the mail runs that day...hmmm...what IS it today??? BOOM! Columbus Day! Surprise! No mail today! Need stamps? Sorry! ha ha ha haSo I am expecting something fun and exciting in the mail and it took two trips to the mail box before I figured out that today is a "holiday." And I use the term very loosely. I guess there is a reason for Columbus Day. The only use I have ever had for it is a chance to do some "fun" stuff for social studies when I taught first grade. If you consider learning about Christopher Columbus (who did NOT discover America) fun. Who celebrates besides bankers, postmen, and elementary school classes? I will name them all now: no one. This day is more or less just a joke by the tellers and postal guys on everyone else now. They take their "holiday" at home all the while laughing as they picture ALL THE REST OF THE BUSINESS AND COMMERCIAL AND RESIDENTIAL WORLD being caught off guard once again by the obscure surprise, just when you thought you were ready for Halloween and Thanksgiving! No money deposits today! (Thank goodness for ATMs...how annoying would THAT be?!) I will not be going out of my way to teach about Columbus Day at my homeschool either. I choose to be surprised. I choose to learn about Chris when the time come in our studies of U.S. history. (much later.) It's not that I don't care about him, it's that I think we could really choose someone else to honor by now...or something else....take out Columbus Day and replace it with a 9/11 holiday....or I don't know...something that MEANS something to someone now. I mean...really...the guy didn't really discover America...so why do WE have this random holiday hanging around still? We should celebrate the day a guy invented plastic...now THAT is something extremely useful and meaningful. Have you seen those plastics make it possible commercials? I had no idea! Labor Day too...what is up with that holiday? A holiday to take off work to commemorate that we work? Kind of strange...June needs a holiday...how about sharing the love?
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2 comments:
I know someone who attends college in South Carolina and had no classes today because Columbus Day is an officially recognized holiday there.
I went to the library today: it was open.
I went to the bank, too. It was after 6:00pm, so I don't know if it was open earlier today or not. I used the ATM.
I almost checked my mail today.
One of my favorite quotes about the subject: 1492. As children we were taught to memorize this year with pride and joy as the year people began living full and imaginative lives on the continent of North America. Actually, people had been living full and imaginative lives on the continent of North America for hundreds of years before that. 1492 is simply the year sea pirates began to rob, cheat and kill them.
But, if it wasn't Christopher Columbus - it would have been someone else.
We already have a 9/11 day. It's called 'Patriot Day' and it is celebrated every September 11th. Soon, they'll move it to a Monday and give all the government employees one more day at the lake and everyone else one less day to transact business at the bank and post office.
I checked my mail twice on Monday also. I have no excuse... I should not have been suprised. My husband had the day off. The USAF, which often works on Christmas and Thanksgiving, gave my husband the day off for Columbus day. Really, that is amusing. Don't get me wrong, I was glad he had the day off, but I still checked the mail.... twice.
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